Stargate Universal Sin Episode 3
by Lone-ranger1
Summary: As if the events of the galaxy weren't enough, now the Quarantine Lockdown is pushing the expedition to the edge. Grief comes out, burdens are carried and the people who are affected the most have to find a way to carry on.


**Stargate Atlantis – Universal Sin**

**Alternate Season 4 of Atlantis**

**Episode 3 - Isolation  
**

**------------------**

**A/N: ** This is the edited version of Isolation, it has been further proofread and detailed. No story changes, just detail.**  
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* * *

Standing in the infirmary, Jennifer Keller tried to make herself look very non-imposing. She was unwilling to risk anyone else if something happened; the huge imposing man in front of her could very well be a facsimile, but if he could do half of what she'd seen Ronon do… "Hold your arm out."

Ronon did as he was told which surprised the Doctor as he typically resented even needing a band aid. But ever since they'd brought him back from Sateda, where they'd found him lying in a pile of rubble, Rodney's PDA still in his hands… Ronon just wasn't the same anymore.

With a gentle touch, almost scared to injure the Satedan in some way he wasn't already, Jennifer took his arm and used an alcohol swab to clean the dirt from his inner elbow. The IV with glycogen and a very mild codeine drip to take the edge off his pain slipped in effortlessly. It was a stark contrast to how often the man allowed nothing to penetrate his stony exterior. "It's good to have to have you back, Ronon…"

Ronon remained quiet, but gave Jennifer a softer than normal look. It was the best Jennifer could expect from him.

* * *

"…at which point we entered the building where the scream we heard came from. We found Ronon and brought him back on the Jumper."

Sam didn't know how to feel… but she knew her instincts were telling her that something was off. Ronon had been on Asuras; she left him there. How did he survive and end up on Sateda of all places?

It was heart wrenching to even think to go see him; Sam never abandoned people… _never_. Could she face Ronon after the battle over two weeks ago? "Can we be sure it's him?"

Lorne was a little surprised at the question, but he knew Sam had a distinct issue with doubles and how they could cause galactic issues. "Well… Dr. Keller is giving him a physical, but I'll be honest ma-am, his reaction was _pretty_ convincing."

Sam still didn't know what to do, but she trusted Lorne and decided to go against her gut. "What did he do?"

To the side, Captain Cadman got a strange look on her face. "He asked us where Colonel Sheppard was, then he screamed… _really really loud_."

That at least Sam understood, Ronon reminded her of a fresher faced Teal'c, quiet, imposing, yet obviously loyal to his cause. "Probably a cultural thing; The Jaffa have something similar…" She couldn't help it, and needed to ask. "…did he mention Rodney or any of the Strike Team?"

Lorne shot his gaze to the side, obviously dejected. "… Yeah… the last he saw of McKay he'd taken fire from the Asurans… he's assuming McKay was KIA."

Sam again almost prayed he was. She knew first hand what anguish Replicator torture could be, and Rodney had been missing for weeks now. "…and how he survived?"

Lorne gulped, when he'd heard Ronon mutter those words it had scared the blood out of his face. "He-he was about to overload a ZPM when a Dart flew in and beamed both him and it up."

In a similar manner, Sam's face became pale with terror. "You mean the Wraith were stealing ZPMs?" The thought had occurred to her to attempt a heist during the attack, but with only two ships, and being the heavy firepower for the battle, it was decided at the highest level of the IOA Security Council that even if the technology was destroyed on Asuras, Atlantis's survival as well as its database was more important.

Cadman nodded and pursed her lips. "Ronon says he blew some of them up… but he can't be sure how many ZPMs they got…"

Sam instantly bristled and stood up straight. Her feelings be damned, she needed the story from the horse's mouth. "I'll expect both of your reports on my desk within the hour. I'm going to go talk to Ronon…"

Lorne and Cadman gave their salutes, and the de-briefing was over.

Neither of the two AR team leaders really felt like talking to each other despite their friendship. Seeing Ronon alive and having to tell him of what had happened was heart wrenching and they both needed some time alone.

Sam on the other hand had shoved her frustrations to the side, and donned the beret of a Full Bird Colonel. Not literally of course, but seeing that Marine Captains were almost literally jumping out of her way as she stomped towards the transporter, the feelings her body emanated certainly denoted that of a career soldier.

Dr. Zelenka was on the other hand quite depressed. Ever since Asuras, he'd been reluctant to take over for Rodney. Not like this was the first time he'd had to cover the stocky Canadian scientist for a prolonged period of time, but the finality of this event left him feeling like a regular foot trying to fill a clown sized level of responsibility.

It didn't seem odd to either as they headed towards the same transporter, the Infirmary was on the same level as the Lab Radek was heading to.

* * *

Rodney was… the English language didn't have a proper word for the level of exhaustion he'd reached. The Asurans had no concept of prisoner rights and he'd gone without sleep or rest for days.

They kept him alive though, going so far as to clone him a new leg and reattach it using Nanite technology. His body was attached to tubes and IVs that kept his weak organic cells fed and nurtured.

His mind though… Rodney's mind was utterly and completely oppressed. Oberoth had a Replicator attempt to break Rodney's mental firewall 24 hours a day. They were finding it surprisingly more effective than they'd originally anticipated, Oberoth had spent quite a few hours personally trying to break it.

Physical pain didn't work. Rodney had been taken to within a hair of his life in the Replicator dreams, each time he managed to figure out somehow that things were wrong, almost as if he could sense the replicator involvement in such dire circumstances.

The Wraith made him fearful, and despite a little more success, the human was still able to remain elusive in his mind.

The one thing that had made him give up the most though… his emotional state. Watching his closest friends and even family killed weakened him, even as he screamed that it wasn't real, the continued torture chipped at his defenses like a single termite against a mighty tree.

Oberoth had attempted to speed it up, but to no avail. No matter, a single termite would eventually reduce a forest to nothing but sawdust given enough time. And it seemed that for now, Time was the only thing Rodney had.

* * *

They'd left him alone in this dark featureless room for hours now. It was a welcome change from the beatings, but the monotony was getting to John.

He could feel the dried blood on his cheek, thankfully Larrin had only struck him bluntly, and despite having a hell of a headache, John knew no permanent damage had been done.

That was one of the reasons John knew he might still get through this; Larrin hadn't just outright killed him. He'd learned that almost 400 Travelers had died attacking the Asurans, which he also learned was seven percent of their population.

It must have been unimaginably painful to them all, and Larrin herself must feel the blame. John wasn't exactly sure where on the ranking system Larrin stood, but she obviously had great clout within Traveler society.

And it was because of him and his convincing that 400 Travelers had died under her command. John knew how Larrin must be feeling, and he only prayed that she came to her senses about how bad the situation must be getting.

* * *

Cadman had always been friendly with the people of the expedition. Her temper was something akin to C4, only detonating when the proper stimuli came about. Because of this, it was completely normal for her to walk into the Botany Lab to see her friend inside. "Katie?"

Dr. Brown turned and smiled to Laura, but Laura knew it was a fake smile. "Hi Laura… I-I haven't had much of a chance to see you lately."

Laura knew Katie was still hurting. She and Rodney had slowly been getting closer and closer and his sudden death had affected her greatly. She remained stoic though, but Laura knew she had been considering a transfer back to Earth.

In fact, many of the civilians and even some military personnel had requested to be transferred back to the Milky Way. Ever since Asuras, the level of hope in the base had just been dropping. Laura herself had lost two of her team just today when they decided that this galaxy was too much for them.

But Laura would deal with that later, and right now Katie was her concern… "It's alright; I know it's been hard on you."

Katie nodded, and with a tender touch, she watered the cacti-like plant she'd named for Rodney. "I just…I just wish I know what happened to him."

Laura blew a sigh of resignation, and decided to say what she had come down here to say. "Katie… Rodney's…"

Before she could complete her sentence, the doors to the small side botany bay closed, and even after slapping the switch to them, they would just not open.

* * *

Sam had been in many tight situations over the course of her career. The nearest to this would have to be on Anubis's Ha'Tak where Thor had saved his memory in the computer system. Being trapped with then-Colonel O'Neill in a suddenly and rapidly filling with water room had been one of the last things she would have expected to happen on a spaceship.

At least there she was in radio contact with her team, and the teasing she'd given then-Colonel O'Neill over his _"Shrinkage" _comment had kept her spirits up.

This was completely different, and like it or not, Radek Zelenka was nowhere near then-Colonel O'Neill in social skills. "Check the control panel, I'm going to try and get this thing to go _somewhere._"

Radek quickly did as he was told. Ever since being promoted to chief of science, he'd found himself trying to live up to the job Rodney McKay did, and for the most part, it was burning him out. He silently pried the panel off and pulled out the crystal control tray.

Behind Radek, Sam tapped a few buttons and kept getting a negative response; she cursed quietly under her breath and finally tapped her radio headset. "This is Colonel Carter to Major Lorne. Come in Major."

With no reply, Radek quickly began to think of what could be happening. He kept his mouth silent because the woman beside him terrified him. Doing a quick visual check, the crystal system looked like it was in perfect working order; just no power was getting to the door.

"This is Carter to…" Sam checked herself. She was just about to call Rodney, her chief of science to figure out what the hell was going on… but her chief of science was standing right behind her "…anyone who can hear me…"

Radek winced as well, it was obvious who she was going to call for… and neither of them were on base… or even likely alive anymore.

* * *

"Rodney… do you love me?"

The question was unfair thought Rodney; Katie _was_ asking him this after a rather strenuous lovemaking session. "What? Of course I do."

Katie smiled and snuggled into him under the cotton sheets. How he'd ended up with Katie off planet in this hotel thingamabob was a mystery, but at the moment he wasn't complaining.

It wasn't much longer after that she got up out of the bed and began to get dressed. "Come on, Rodney. we're already late and Colonel Carter is gonna _kill_ you for bringing me back so late."

Rodney furrowed his brow. Where did that come from? "Uhh… okay. Yeah, I guess you're right."

Rodney tried to brush off the strange feeling, but no matter what he did it just wouldn't go away. It wasn't much longer that they were both dressed and heading to the gate. When had he come here? More importantly, _why_ had he come here?

Was this all just a big date with Katie? Granted yes, they had been getting closer over the past few weeks… and he'd been planning on bringing something back with him on his next trip to Earth… But…

There weren't many other people in the area, in fact most seemed to be avoiding them. A few minutes of walking and Rodney was getting more and more curious. "Umm… Katie, as odd as this many seem, how'd we end up here?"

Katie snickered, and hugged Rodney in a very cutesy fashion. "Silly, you brought me here because I needed to deliver some herbs this village needed to create some natural insecticide for their crops."

The gate came into view about fifty feet away, and Rodney furrowed his brow. "Insecticide? You know how to do that?"

Katie smiled and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Of course! I'm a botanist! You came along because I begged Colonel Carter to give us some alone time."

It was so odd, why did this feel strange? "She… she said yes?"

Katie lost a bit of her smile, and started to grumble. "Yes! _God_, I never knew you were such a light drinker."

_That _was strange. Katie rarely if ever teased or made any pejorative remark to him… Could this… "Rodney, could you dial the gate?" Katie bent over and stretched her back, Rodney amazed she could be so flexible. "You kinda left me a little stiff."

That's when it hit him… this wasn't real. "Wait… no… no! You're… you're not Katie… Katie isn't like this…"

Katie stretched her neck and pouted. "Rodney! Why are you acting like this? I thought you loved me…"

Rodney backpedaled, and felt a tinge of pain in his forehead. "No…. no this isn't happening… I'm… I'm still…"

The world around Rodney melted, and Oberoth thought to himself as he reset the world yet again. _"His friends give him strength… perhaps I am being too logical…"_

Oberoth recreated the world around Rodney again, this time back in Atlantis… with a big difference.

* * *

Major Lorne had just found Teyla on one of the balconies at the edge of the Mess Hall when the barricade came down. It separated them from the inside but they could still hear the voices of those inside. "This is Lorne! Who's in there?!"

A familiar voice, just ever so slightly accented. _"This is Stackhouse, sir! What's going on?"_

Lorne looked to Teyla who had been standing at the edge of the railing and reminiscing, this situation was by far the last thing he'd expected. "Not a clue, Sarge. Get on the horn and try and get Zelenka to explain what the hell's going on!"

Teyla finally turned and looked to Lorne. "I believe we are trapped, Evan. I can hear those on the level above us in a similar predicament."

Lorne cursed softly and banged his fist against the wall. "Dammit."

* * *

"Perhaps we can physically open the door. Transporter doors are much lighter than the city doors."

With a curt nod, Sam moved in and tried to get a good grip on the door. Her thoughts were harsh, and she mentally kicked herself for thinking it. _'If Sheppard were here maybe we could push it open… Or between me and Rodney we could work something out..."_

When the door didn't budge, she let out an exasperated sigh. Zelenka looked pretty dejected himself but for the most part he just remained silent.

Sam noticed, tried to compose herself and muttered to him in a half calm voice. "Is there anything that could explain why communications and the doors would be down?"

Radek gulped, and shook his head. "Umm, not both at the same time; the quarantine lockdown would certainly explain the…"

Sam interrupted. "Quarantine Lockdown?"

Adjusting his glasses, Radek nodded gingerly. "Well yes… it would isolate the individual parts of the city… but it would not interfere with communications."

Sam furrowed her brow and thought for a moment. "Let's hook up your tablet to the system, maybe we can override it from here."

Radek was reluctant to hand over his tablet; it just seemed like such a far stretch. "Oh this? This is just a read-only tablet designed for diagnostics. It doesn't have enough RAM to…"

Sam finally lost her cool. In the past dealing with Radek was simple as the Czech usually deferred to Rodney. It was an easy place to be. But now, forced with making decisions, Sam could see he was reluctant and easily hesitant. "We have to try." She nearly tore the Tablet out of his hands and began to reprogram it. The picture of the pigeon on the background was distracting, but Sam paid little mind to it. "Is there any reason communications would be affected?"

Radek had been thinking about that, and the answer he'd come to wasn't pleasant. "Yes well… one thing comes to mind. Before… well… after the Kirsan Fever a few months ago… Rodney had reprogrammed the quarantine system to be more aggressive."

At the mention of the former chief of science, Sam flinched slightly. A moment to calm her nerves, and her voice came through clear. "And you think he might have made a mistake?"

Radek quickly held up his hands defensively, hoping to undo the offence. "No! No no no… but there might have been…"

Sam shook her head and sighed. Radek's indecisiveness was infuriating, and she needed his help now like it or not. "Radek… It's alright. Don't worry about offending Rodney just because… "She winced as she worded the rest of the sentence. "… I need you to focus, Radek. He's gone and we need to move on." The moisture in her eyes hid her anger. Sam was beginning to hate being so determined to stay in Atlantis.

Radek sighed and nodded. "Yes, he may have made a mistake. Made the quarantine lockdown too aggressive. But the tablet will only give you readout; we will not be able to change anything."

Sam already knew that, but as she hooked up the tablet to the panel she explained. "At least we'll know what's going on."

Radek found it hard to dispute that.

* * *

Laura looked around the botany lab, and after finding nothing useful, turned to Katie and said. "You mean you've got no computer, no radio, and not even any edible plants in this place?"

Katie shrugged and picked up a leaf from one of the greener plants. "You could probably eat this if you had to, but I wouldn't recommend it."

Cadman rolled her eyes and tapped on the door. "Hello!? Anyone out there?!"

Again, Katie shook her head. "Most of them are probably on lunch, I usually work through lunch or…" Her eyes watered, and she turned away as she finished her sentence. "…or Rodney would come and…"

Laura winced and sighed. Truth be told she missed the quirky scientist as well if only to tease him. "Katie… I need to tell you… Ronon's back."

Katie instantly perked up, but her face was more confusion than anything. "What?! But… How!?"

Laura prepared herself, this wasn't an easy story to tell. "Sit down, Katie… I'm guessing we're gonna be in here for a long time."

* * *

In the control room, Chuck was rubbing his eyes as he tried to hack past the quarantine lockdown. It had been almost 20 hours he'd been awake and Amelia had been threatening to kick his ass when the doors had shut.

Through some strange machination, Chuck was now the ranking officer inside the control room of the Lost City of the Ancients. "Okay… anybody get anything on the radios?"

A series of shakes of their heads, and Chuck sighed. "_Daedalus_?"

Amelia shook her head and rubbed her forehead. "Nothing. It's in orbit, but we've lost all ability to contact them."

Chuck rubbed his eyes, and cursed softly. "Dammit… so do we have contact with anyone?"

Amelia sighed and shook her head again. "No one; we're completely on our own." The other technicians were now focused on trying to get the bulkhead doors open, and Amelia spoke softly just to him. "Chuck… calm down. It's just a quarantine."

Chuck sat next to Amelia and stretched his face. "Yeah… and we're completely cut off from everyone…" He looked over to where the others had begun to build something that looked like a giant crowbar. It was almost comical. "Let's try and get in contact with _Daedalus_ before we start eating each other."

Amelia grimaced, Atlantis was still new to her and it already seemed like the fairy tale city was turning into a Brother's Grimm story.

* * *

"Level 5?!"

Sam was confused as well. The data on the tablet was astonishing. "The entire city is in lockdown… this outbreak couldn't have spread out that fast!"

Radek flexed his fist in concentration, it hurt to admit it, but this was looking more and more like a malfunction on Rodney's part than anything else. "Something is definitely wrong. Look, most of the primary and secondary systems of the city are offline as well."

Sam nodded and ground her teeth. "What exactly did Rodney do to the system?"

With a small shrug, Radek tried to keep it as succinct as possible. "He made it more aggressive to diseases that to Pegasus isn't as serious. Our immune systems…"

Sam shook her hand quickly and tapped through more of the information on the tablet. "Take a look at this… I'm not as familiar with the power systems of the city as you are but this doesn't look right."

Radek took the tablet and sighed as he went over the data. "Oh dear… it looks like it is a malfunction… but it doesn't look like it's anything Rodney did… I'm reading a sudden spike in power caused by an intense ionospheric storm earlier today."

Her hand on her forehead, Sam smacked her lips. "We need to get to a workstation, I'm not sure if anyone else can make a workaround."

Radek gulped, and he looked at the door. "It will be difficult to get through the door… let alone the rest of the lockdown."

Resisting the urge to rebuke him, Sam tapped open the control pad where the crystal control tray resided. "Pass me that?" She motioned to the tablet he had in his hands.

Radek shrugged and did as he was ordered, but he felt he needed to speak. "The tablet only has limited RAM; it won't be able to…"

Unable to resist, Sam chided him with a less than calm voice. "Yes yes… it won't run the whole city but it might be enough to open this door! And we're the only ones who have the skills to deal with this crisis and the rest of the city must be getting close to panic… I need you to think positive and focus."

Gulping, Radek nodded and kept his voice quiet. "Yes… You're right."

It was hard for Sam to try and keep positive herself. As if things weren't bad enough with the recent losses and the IOA's stonewalling, but Atlantis herself seemed to be unruly… Perhaps in parallel to all the events of the galaxy.

* * *

Special Forces training was one of the only things keeping John sane. Focusing on what was coming… not on the dried blood on the inside corner of his left eye. Or even that Larrin was seated in front of him with a harsh look. "Are you even going to talk to me anymore?"

Larrin remained silent, simply staring at him.

John winced and tried to flex his facial muscles enough to get rid of the caked blood on his face. It itched terribly and with his hands tied he couldn't do anything. "Dammit Larrin… this is ridiculous… Come on! We can work together!"

Not a word escaped her mouth, only silent staring.

It was utterly frustrating, so John decided that he was going to keep talking and hope that something got through to her. "You know the Asurans aren't going to stop… I'm betting they've already restarted their campaign and the Wraith aren't going to take it sitting down…"

Her eyes narrowed slightly, and John knew she was listening.

"I'm can't promise my people will do everything they can… but you can bet the farm _I'm_ gonna do everything I can… and I know Atlantis would be willing to take your people in."

Very little emotion on her face, almost as if she were simply considering what to do. Her mouth parted just a little, but no sound escaped.

John raised his voice slightly, now getting a little angry. "_For the love of God_… I don't _care_ that you've spent the last two weeks using me for a punching bag! Think of all the people who've died… the people who are gonna die if we don't do whatever we can!"

Now her face showed a little emotion, anger, indignance, and just the hint of scorn.

With a calmer voice, John tried to be reasonable. "Listen… if we head back to Atlantis, we can regroup with your people… at the very least I'm sure I can convince my people to offer yours sanctuary on Atlantis."

Finally, Larrin sighed and looked to him with a scornful angry look. "That's it? Sanctuary? What about the fact that once they're done with the rest of the galaxy, they're gonna come after your city… they're gonna hunt my people down just to make sure there's nothing for the Wraith… What can you really offer us?"

John grimaced, and he knew that it would be difficult. "I can't promise anything… but you have my word I'll do everything and anything I can."

No more words, but Larrin drew a deep breath and left the room. John couldn't help but think that maybe he'd finally gotten through to her… his only regret was that it wasn't sooner to avoid the flogging her second in command had given him.

* * *

Lorne peered out over the balcony and saw the tower looming overhead. The sun was bearing down on them and he noticed Teyla move over to where a small awning provided some shade. Seeing that he wasn't able to do anything but bake in the sun, Lorne moved over and sat down next to her. "I wouldn't worry too much… probably just a glitch or something."

Teyla nodded, but her tone wasn't her typical cheery one. "I am not worried. I am… concerned."

Lorne sighed and tried to think of something to say. "Well… it's just…"

With a shake of her head, and a hand on Lorne's shoulder. Teyla sighed her reply. "It's okay Evan… I know."

There wasn't a thing Lorne could say to help Teyla's burdened soul. Not that he could think of any for himself.

* * *

"Oh, good idea."

Sam had seen Radek fanning himself and take his outer jacket off. Without any hesitation, she began to peel off her own jacket as it was getting hot without ventilation. Radek on the other hand instantly noted that Soldier Sam was in actuality a rather attractive woman. His fanning suddenly had more to do with keeping his calm than keeping his cool.

Sam shook her head as she dropped the jacket and outer shirt leaving only her t-shirt on. "Much better."

Radek couldn't help himself and muttered as he focused on staring at the crystal panel. "Yes! Much better…!"

With her full concentration on the panel and the tablet, Sam noticed little of Radek's discomfort. "Okay… the panel isn't recognizing my authentication…"

Feeling just the edge of smugness, Radek replied to the unasked question. "Well yes… the tablet is not configured…"

Rolling her eyes, Sam checked her harsher rebuke. "Yeah I know… That's why I've written a workaround so I can bypass all the programs on the tablet and free up enough RAM to allow local access input."

Feeling a little emasculated, Radek replied quickly. "Already? So fast…"

It was getting harder and harder for Sam to keep her cool. Dr Zelenka had been getting more and more submissive, more and more useless ever since Asuras. Sam knew he was smarter than that and also why this was happening. He missed Rodney, and the grief hadn't passed yet. Sam realized with a small sense of self-loathing that the civilians on base were nowhere near as accustomed to death as Soldiers were…

God, was she accustomed to it? It sounded so macabre… Sam was a soldier yes… but she was primarily a scientist. Sam should know better than to… "Perhaps if we bypass the secondary control crystals…"

Sam saw it and through all her deep thoughts, hesitated. Only too late did she reach out to grab Radek's hand. "_No! Wait!"_

Too late, the raw uncontrolled power flowed into the primary control crystals and caused a short circuit between the crystals. It blew with a significant force and sent both Atlanteans back into the opposite wall. Sam landed first and felt her head crack against the wall. Radek landed in a heap but was more or less unharmed.

The world became hazy, and Sam instantly knew she was hurt. Her hand moved lazily up to where her head ached even as she spoke. "Doc… you okay?"

Radek grimaced and held his hand; a black mark showed where the electricity had coursed through and scorched his hand. But for the most part he looked okay. "The… The doors… they didn't open."

Sam already knew that. What Radek should have done is what he always did around Rodney… shut up and follow orders. Now pulling her hand away from her head where the distinct trickle of blood now flowed, she looked at the tablet on her leg. "No…" she picked it up with her blood stained fingers and grimaced. "And now the goddamn tablet's fried."

Radek had never seen Sam angry, so now that he was the cause of her throwing the tablet across the transporter and sighing dejectedly with her hands holding her head up. Radek felt even more miserable than he had before.

* * *

"Ronon! Stop!"

Paying no attention to the doctor's words, Ronon growled loudly as he tried to pry the infirmary doors open with the IV pole. When it snapped suddenly and he stumbled about from the sudden move, Ronon slammed his fist against the door in futility. "Open you goddamn door!"

Jennifer tried to stay out of range of the infuriated Satedan and explain. "It's a quarantine lockdown, Ronon. It won't open." He still ignored her, and tried with his fingers to pry the door apart. "Those doors weigh god knows how many tons. Even if we had a squad of marines in here we wouldn't be able to push it open!"

Finally done venting, Ronon punched the door hard one last time and split open his knuckles. He didn't even care as his blood trickled down to the floor. "You got any explosives? Guns?"

Jennifer looked around the sparsely stocked side room to the infirmary. More than likely her colleagues on the other side of the door were trying the same, but with even less success. "This is an infirmary, The most explosive thing I have is a bad case of indigestion."

Neither laughed, but Ronon got the hint. "So we're trapped?"

With a nod and a sigh, Jennifer nodded. "Yeah… that's what a quarantine does. So come here and let me stitch that hand up and we can figure out what it is we're gonna do."

With everything that had happened to him, Ronon sorely wished he could just sit back and think. Perhaps Jennifer had the right idea and action wasn't what was needed here.

* * *

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?"

Laura resisted rolling her eyes. She'd been doing this for years and went to university for it! Of course Laura knew what she was doing. "Trust me, we're in no danger."

Katie still winced as she saw Laura insert the detonator to the small shaped brick of C4 on the door. "It's not everyday I see someone opening a door with explosives."

Laura shrugged and flicked the safety off. She pulled Laura with her behind the cover of the overturned desk and made a motion to cover her ears. "Not everyday this place decides to lock us all down."

Just as she reached for the radio detonator, Katie stopped her. "Wait! What if it's a real Quarantine?! What if there's some horrible disease out there and we're just going to expose ourselves to it?"

Having considered this, Laura felt it was worth the small risk. "Well, my radio's out, why would communications go down if we're trying to stop an infection? That'd be the last thing to disable. No… something's wrong and we need to try and get into contact with the chain of command."

Katie simply blinked, unsure of half of what Laura had just said. "Umm, okay. If you say so."

Laura felt a pang of regret, ever since telling Katie that Ronon was sure Rodney had died on Asuras… Well she felt just a little less of a friend and more a soldier. "Katie, look I'm sorry. I know everything's piling up on us and… well if you need anyone to talk to, don't hesitate."

Katie sighed and nodded. "I-I know. Everyone keeps telling me that."

It was obvious Katie was uncomfortable. So Laura decided to end the conversation with a bang. "Cover your ears. This is gonna be loud."

* * *

Lorne peered out and wondered exactly what the others were doing. He had a block of C4 in his vest but it would barely be enough to break through the door. "Don't suppose you carry C4 'round with you?"

Teyla rolled her eyes and replied deadpan. "You'll have to forgive me; I left my stockpile in my quarters."

It was heartening to hear the Athosian woman joke around, but the lack of more than a courteous smile made Lorne feel like he was intruding. "Yeah… well… I'm not sure I wanna try and blow this door open with so little space out here…" He looked over the edge of the balcony above and below. "Wish I had some rope, might be able to climb up or down."

An indecisive groan from Teyla told him what a ridiculous idea it was. Pft… climbing the Tower… surely it was… Well…

* * *

"I can't raise _Daedalus_… but it looks like they're trying to get our attention as well."

Chuck furrowed his brow and scratched the side of his head. "How?"

With a motion of her head, Amelia showed where the beeping on the screen was. "There's a signal… It looks like as Asgard transporting signal but it can't get through. That's not all though."

Sitting down, and trying not to grimace at the way the giant improvised crowbar failed to open the door, Chuck saw what was the problem. "Oh crap… level five quarantine? That means…"

With a nod of her head, and a dejected tone Amelia confirmed. "Yeah… Atlantis is broadcasting a signal… and without Dr Zelenka, Major Lorne, or Colonel Carter here…"

Chuck palmed his forehead and sighed. "There's no way to turn it off…"

The two technicians came to the conclusion that unless something drastic happened, Atlantis was basically launching signal flares to any passing Wraith or Replicator ships.

* * *

"Still no luck?"

Caldwell's questioning was standard military protocol, but Major Marks couldn't help but want to say something along the lines of 'I'd tell you if I did.' "No, sir. Atlantis is putting out a jamming signal that's stopping all matter energy conversion. I'm guessing it's a quarantine but since it all happened so fast…"

With a sigh, Caldwell palmed his brow. "It's most likely a malfunction… _damnit_. Any luck shutting down that distress call?"

Major Marks shook his head… and realized what the next part entailed. "No, sir… it's coming out loud and clear 5 by 5."

With a wince and stifled groan, Caldwell put his palms together. "… Target Atlantis's Communications hub. Railguns only."

Hesitation. Never in his career had Kevin Marks ever been ordered to fire on his own allies. "…Sir?"

With an iron voice, Caldwell growled. "It's either this or one of the two enemies looking for us right now. Do it."

Marks let a slow breath out and closed his eyes. Targeting Atlantis for an orbital strike was the last thing he'd ever imagined would be his job. He made careful note to aim properly, adjust for wind and the changing gravimetric forces… a miss could mean a lot of lives.

* * *

Katie was a few feet behind Laura as they moved through the open corridors of Atlantis when the felt the tower they were in shake. Katie instantly freaked out and jumped in surprise. _"Oh my god! _I thought you said you knew what you were doing!"

With a bemused yet worried expression, Laura looked around as the corridor stopped shaking. "That wasn't me…" a moment to think, and then she became much more serious. "Sounded like an artillery shell… or…"

Katie began to dart her head around looking for where the noise and shaking was coming from. "Well, then what was that?! Are we under attack!?"

With raised hands, Laura took a hold of Katie and tried to calm her down. "Whoa! No need to jump to conclusions! If we were under attack it would have been over already since the shield isn't up."

The newly promoted Captain pulled out another brick of C4 and began to shape the charge with her hands. "We're not too far from the auxiliary control room. Once we get there we might be able to figure out exactly what's going on."

Katie stopped and held her hands up and shook her head. "Okay… You can do that… I'm not a soldier… I'm a botanist for pete's sake! What am I even doing following you?!"

It was expected, and Laura didn't blame the woman. Too much was happening too fast and she was finding herself falling back on her training. "Katie… calm down… it's okay… just go back to the cultivation room."

Surprisingly, the botanist became indignant. "Oh so I'm just a 3rd wheel to you!?"

Laura winced; the massacre of the idiom Katie used was quite contrary to the severity of the situation they were in.

* * *

"I'm sorry… I honestly thought that…"

Sam was in no mood to talk, her head ached from the blunt injury and her vision was slightly blurry. It was hard to concentrate as well and she assumed a minor concussion was to blame. Her tone was a little less than irate. "I know. I'm not angry."

Radek was sitting on the other side of the transporter, clearly terrified of the injured woman across from him. "It's just… I was so sure…"

It wasn't like Sam to be rude, or even curt, but the way Radek had been apologizing for the last 3 minutes continuously had made Sam wish she had one of his pigeons to choke him with. "_Radek__!_"

The Czech was silent finally… but only for a moment. "I'm sorry… I'm sorry I'm not Rodney…"

Now Sam winced, it was an unfair assumption… but to a degree the scientist was right… Sam wished Rodney was still around and felt just a little more than annoyed that Zelenka was her new chief of science. "I'm not asking you to be, just…" with a sigh, Sam rubbed the back of her head and grimaced.

"…Exactly… I'll never be what Rodney was to Atlantis… and I'm sorry about that."

Radek's words hurt Sam. It hurt her because it was true no matter what she said. "… You don't have to be, Radek…" Sam said all this with her eyes closed. The throbbing at the back of her head made it harder to focus, but she had to say this. "I'll admit… I miss Rodney. And Sheppard… and everyone who's gone. But we need to move forward, Radek. And if that means that we all need to work a little harder than that's what we're going to have to…"

The sound of a distant explosion distracted Sam's attention. Radek had heard it too and he quickly got up. "That sounded like an explosion… perhaps the city is malfunctioning worse than we expected."

Sam knew better. The sound of twisting metal was loud yes, but not loud enough to signal an exploded power conduit. "No… it's a C4 blast… Someone's out there!" she forced herself up, waving off any attempt by Radek to help her. "Hey! HEY!" Sam began to bang on the door, desperate to get anyone's attention.

* * *

"I should be with him."

Jennifer had to admit, the last hour had been interesting to say the least once Ronon stopped trying to break down the door. She kept her voice quick as she sat across from him on the floor. "You'd be dead."

"_I'd be with him."_ Ronon made no attempt to hide the anger in his voice. "… It wouldn't have been so…"

Jennifer sighed, Ronon was trying to hold all that in and for some reason, she was being some kind of disturbance to his calm. "I… I dunno what I can say."

Ronon kept silent and simply clenched his fists. The stitches in his hand were stressed but they didn't snap fortunately. "There's nothing you or anyone else can say… I left him behind."

Under normal circumstances Jennifer would try and get Ronon to go see a psychiatrist, but seeing as the Satedan was unwilling to part with the guilt, or even the PDA that he still held in his right side shirt pocket… "Ronon… look. I'm not even going to try and say I understand. I've been here a little less than a year and already I'm scared out of my mind… but I don't think Doctor McKay would like you sulking like this… especially not after spending so many years fighting the Wraith."

It was ballsy, and Jennifer only said it because she thought maybe being a little more aggressive could convince the Satedan to do more than just sit around and wait for death. Ronon looked up at her with a strange expression on his face. "What did you say?"

Jennifer suddenly felt like she'd crossed a line, and quickly she tried to backpedal out of the awkward conversation. "Oh! Well… Uhh who am I to say what Doctor McKay would want!? I only ever saw him when he was here trying to…"

With a strong shake of his head, Ronon sat up straight. "No no no… what you said about me, about the Wraith."

A little apprehensive, Jennifer decided to be completely honest. "Fighting them? Well, I mean… that's what you did… isn't it?"

Ronon's face was blank, but his mind was racing. That is what he did isn't it? He _fought_ the Wraith. Ronon hated to admit it, but this fumbling somewhat cute doctor had just slapped him in the face with the realization that he was dishonoring Rodney by giving in so easily. There were more Wraith out there and the Replicators too.

Ronon wouldn't rest until they were all torn to shreds by his hands… vengeance for Rodney… and Sheppard… and the hundreds… no… _millions_ of others who had fallen before them. He looked to Jennifer and smiled softly, something that only made Jennifer even more nervous.

* * *

Major Lorne wasn't exactly an impulsive man. In fact, it was his stoic calm that many referred to when speaking of him. The biggest thing that made him lose control was when his friends and family were threatened.

So when that explosion from the nearby tower had drawn both his and Teyla's attention, it made him _very_ impulsive. "I'm gonna have to climb up the side of the tower… the Control Room isn't that far."

Teyla instantly raised both eyebrows. Certainly she felt threatened by the blast as well, but the concept of climbing the side of the city of the Ancestors wasn't high on her list of things she might one day do. "Climb the tower?! Are you insane?!"

Lorne leaned out from the railing and tried to map out his route, it would be a mostly laterally climb, but the final 20 stories would be pure vertical. Definitely very dangerous. "If Sam's not up there, then no one else has authorization to shut the Quarantine off. If she _can't_ get there, then I _have_ to do this."

It was the truth, and Teyla hated having to say this. "You can't make it, Evan…"

Many times in his life he'd been told some variation of that. And even though it was Teyla, it still bothered him. "Oh and why not?"

With a half stifled groan, Teyla tugged on his leg. "You know why…"

Lorne contemplated her words. Did she mean more with them than she could actually say? Maybe he was reading too much into it, but the sudden urge that hit him told him just what a fool he was being.

Maybe it was the severity of his own feelings, or maybe it was just him wanting to prove that he was alright and he knew his duty. But Evan Lorne finally realized that he was being stupid, and jumped down from the railing where he was. "I guess you're right… climbing the tower… guess I really win the _"stupid"_ idea award…"

* * *

"So you're sure it was _Daedalus_?"

Amelia nodded and pointed out the sensor report. "I guess they detected our signal and since they couldn't reach us or even beam down, they stopped it by any means necessary."

Chuck looked it over and winced. The damage was extensive, but contained. There shouldn't have been anyone up there but it was always possible that casualties could have come from the surprise if somewhat welcome attack. "I've been trying to break the quarantine code… it's slow going, I've managed to disable the lock on the ventilation system so we won't suffocate. But pretty much everything else is going to take forever to hack into."

Amelia smirked as she restrained her laugh. "Hack? Geek."

Chuck rolled his eyes; despite the bad situation it was nice to have a little laugh. "You're just jealous. The Chucknician has long ago learned to deal with such things…"

With a furrowing of her brow, Amelia rolled her eyes back at him despite finding humor in his words. "Freak."

* * *

_"Colonel!? Is that you?"_

Sam latched onto the muffled voice and screamed as loud as she could. "Yes! We're trapped in the transporter!"

Zelenka banged on the door as well. "Yes! With your help we might be able to pull it open!"

The muffled sounds of combat boots outside, and soon the voice was relatively clear. "Colonel? Doctor? You in there?"

"Yes! Maybe between the three of us we can pry the doors apart!"

Outside the door, Laura shrugged and for a moment wished Katie had come with her all the way. "Alright! Get ready! On 3!"

She got a good purchase on the door and dug into the floor with her boots. The strong grip gave her a great leverage and she counted down. "One… Two… Three!"

Between the three of them, it was only a few moments before the door opened enough to get an even better gripping point, and both Sam and Radek rushed out taking deep breaths of the somewhat fresher air.

Laura noted instantly that Sam was a little woozy, and Radek held his hand is if injured. "You guys okay?"

Sam nodded but the obvious sluggishness of her movements noted otherwise. "Yeah… yeah we're fine… How'd you get to us? The whole base should be locked down."

Laura winced slightly and opened the Velcro patch on her vest. Beneath lay a twelve pack of C4 charges with three empty holes. "Gotta give the technicians something to do."

With a grimace and slight groan, Radek realized that door repair in Atlantis wasn't something that was high on the list of things to do. "We need to get to a workstation, once we're there, we can override the lockdown."

With a shaky nod, Sam added. "Agreed, the closest workstation is the ZPM power room… should be a few levels down."

Laura again noticed Sam looking dizzy and made a comment. "You sure you okay, boss? You don't look so hot."

Sam shook her head and held the back of it. "Just a bruise… nothing serious." Radek became quieter than he already was and simply looked away.

* * *

"Ronon… it's okay. We're all grieving… it's okay to feel bad."

Ronon shook his head, but he didn't move the arm that had come around his shoulders. "They should be here… _goddamnit they should be here_…_!_ They're the ones who've been here from the start… they're the ones who kept me here…they're the ones who..." He wanted to say the ones that matter, the ones that would keep this galaxy safe from the Wraith, but the emotion inside him forced his mouth shut.

Jennifer simply stayed with one arm around Ronon consoling him. It was by far the strangest moment she'd had with the expedition so far. To see this huge hulking warrior reduced to self-loathing. "I… I'll admit I didn't really know them that well… heck, I don't really know anyone anymore. But I guess all we can really do is keep doing our jobs and hope for the best."

It was hard for Ronon not to turn and scoff, but as he saw the sincerity in her eyes, the genuine way her voice wasn't completely devoid of hope… "…I had you wrong, you know?"

A slight stiffening of her body was the only sign of Jennifer's sudden hesitance. "Hmm?"

Ronon had long ago lost that hope, he'd lost the feeling that things would work out in the end no matter what. The only person he could still remember who had that was Melina. "You're tougher than I thought you were… a lot tougher."

With a sudden blustering voice, Jennifer became quite bashful. "Oh well… I don't… I mean.. Tough is subjective… Give me a cerebral edema and I'm superwoman, put me in a cocktail party and I'm a lost little chipmunk."

With a confused look, Ronon shook his head. "What?"

Jennifer realized that Ronon probably didn't have a clue was either situation was, so instead she just pouted slightly and sighed. "Oh it's… oh never mind."

* * *

"It's not going to get easier is it?"

Teyla looked at Major Lorne as he sat across from her on the balcony, the claylike C4 substance in his hands. "Loss is a constant in a person's life."

Lorne looked up to her and sighed. "How do you deal?"

With a deep breath, Teyla tried to think of a way to help the Major with his own pain, but having yet to find one of her own, she came to a loss. "I simply must live one day at a time, treating each situation as it comes to me."

With a rueful smile, Lorne rubbed the side of his face. "I… Teyla… I'm-I'm not used to this. I've got pretty much all my family still back home… Carson and Elizabeth… Well, I was never really close to either of them. God, I must be horrible for saying that."

"You are simply stating the truth Evan. There is no shame in that." Despite saying those words, Teyla knew it was a simple placation. She herself felt a great deal of loss as Elizabeth and Carson had been so Kate gone as well, the loss of Sheppard Rodney and Ronon had been a near final killing stroke. It felt wrong to miss them more than she missed either of her other three great friends. "I myself admit I am at a loss..."

Lorne gulped and looked at her with a somewhat sad expression. "Have you thought about what you're going to do now? I mean…" the man didn't want to finish that sentence, but he knew it must have been on Teyla's mind.

Teyla for that matter still didn't have an answer. "I… I do not know Evan. My people are still missing… I have no idea where they are. My team is for the most part either dead or missing…"

That's when Evan smacked his forehead, he'd forgotten all about why he came to find Teyla. "Oh _goddamn it!_ I'm _such_ an idiot… Teyla… Ronon's alive.

The Athosian woman's eyes went wide. "What!? But… How!?"

With a regretful sigh, Evan began the story. "It's complicated… but when they were on Asuras, Ronon was the last uninjured person and Dr. McKay had given him his tablet to detonate a ZPM… before he could do it though, a Wraith dart beamed both him and the ZPM aboard. He doesn't know for a fact, but the last time he saw Rodney the replicators had shot one of his legs and he was surrounded."

It was the smallest bit of hope Teyla had heard in weeks, and she instantly latched onto it. "Then he may still be alive!"

Evan wanted to believe it too, Dr McKay could get annoying, but that was no reason to wish his death. Besides, he missed teasing the Canadian. "Well… Ronon's pretty sure he isn't… but I'm still hoping too."

The two of them looked to each other and knew that slowly but surely, the healing they wanted had begun.

* * *

The explosion caused a grimace on all three, though each for different reasons. Laura cursed herself for shaping the charge too wide and blowing the door clean off its sliding track instead of just a hole. Radek wasn't looking forward to another door to repair, and Sam hid the pain the shockwave travelling through the hallway caused in her head.

The three of them said nothing though, and slowly but surely they reached the ZPM control room where a workstation lay ready for their use. Sam quickly took control of the situation, and despite being injured and relatively fuguish in her thinking, managed to get into the quarantine program. "Alright, it looks like the ionospheric disturbance just corrupted the control interface… it'll take quite a while to clean that up without a hard restart."

Laura simply looked at Sam and raised her hands. "Uhh… High Temperature and Energy Materials Specialist… I may love nerds but I'm not one of them."

Radek seemed to perk up at the mention of loving nerds, and looked to Sam. "Well… the only way to make a hard restart from our position is to shut down the main power circuits of the city."

It was something Sam had considered, but what that would mean is days of recoding all the programs that were running at the time of the quarantine and starting from scratch. It was a big job and it worried her. "Is there any other way you can think of to reset the quarantine without that?"

With a scratch of his stubble, Radek mused. "I… I'm not sure. What do you think?"

It irritated Sam that Radek was still trying to follow her lead. He was still probably feeling bad about the incident in the transporter but now was not the time for apologetic natures. "Come on… there must be some way." Sam knew there was _one_ other way. Get to the control room and disengage the protocols from there. But the control room was dozens of levels above, and even with Laura's _'Velcro Vest of RDX Doom'_ as she so deviously put it, they'd never make it all the way.

Radek was still trying to remain in the shadows. Before him were two highly determined women, one that he'd accidentally caused harm to, and the other whose ability with explosives made Radek weep from intimidation. "Uhh… well… No. There may be other ways yes… but none from where we are."

It would have to do, and Sam decided to act. "Alright… pull the switch. The systems should be out for a few seconds but everything should come back soon after." She took her position by the control panel and waited for Radek to move over to the ancient equivalent of a circuit breaker. "Okay… ready."

Radek looked between him and Laura, and realized Sam wanted him to pull the switch. "Oh… Oh! Ah yes… I'll just…" Both women resisted rolling their eyes, as soon the Czech moved over and put his hands on the main switch. "Alright… ready."

Sam took a few deep breaths, and for the first time in awhile welcomed her soon coming trip to the infirmary.

* * *

"You're pretty smart, you know that Doc?"

Jennifer snickered softly, but didn't deny the accusation. "Story of my life… ever since I was fifteen and graduating university that's all everyone ever says."

Ronon felt bad, he'd almost given in to despair but somehow thinking of the almost innocence of the woman next to him with her head on his shoulder. He had to make his statement clear. "No no… you're that kind of smart too… but I mean you're smart enough to stay calm… you don't let stuff get to you."

Even more embarrassed, Jennifer scrunched into a ball shape instinctively. "Oh my… well… I-I guess…"

As much as Ronon wanted to feel pain, seeing Jennifer's reaction to his compliment only made him want to smile.

* * *

Amelia had admit, despite some initial butterflies, Chuck was actually handling himself well. That is, as well as a Sergeant could after the city had come under attack, sensors reporting various explosions around the city, the city reacting to the attack by implementing the self-destruct, as well as having one technician break his hand trying to pound his way through a 3 ton door. "How much time left on the… well… _you know?"_

With a resigned sigh, Amelia shook her head. "Didn't catch it. Could be 5 seconds from now, could be 5 years from now." It seemed strange to her, to be so calm despite certain death so close. "Guess _Daedalus_ is gonna regret taking out that communications dish."

Chuck rubbed his face and leaned back in his chair. His smile was somewhat insane. "Ever thought about what you'd do if your flight went down?"

"Excuse me?"

With a hand above his head, Chuck mimed a plane. "You know… 747… get shot down, engine trouble, frozen duck flies into the windshield… any of the millions of things that could go wrong… what do you do?"

It was a strange question, and Amelia really didn't know how to respond. "Uhh… well… I guess I'd… well… but… dammit Chuck! What kind of a question is that?"

Chuck gave a soft rueful laugh, both from Amelia's reply, and his own thoughts that if someone were to try and write what he was doing in a prose sense, they would run into the problem of having to write _'Chuck chuckled' _"I don't know! I just… I don't know what I'd do either… is that… _is that a joke?_"

Now Amelia was worried, had Chuck gone off the deep end? "The hell are you talking about?"

Leaning forward, Chuck tried to lay out the epiphany he'd just had. "It's an existential question… if you know you're gonna die… what do you do?"

Now Amelia understood… vaguely. "Well… there's still a chance someone could shut it off… those doors were pretty close to the ZPM room and…"

Shaking both his head and hands, Chuck interrupted. "No no no… you're not getting me… Look at this place… look at everything that's happened… Maybe it won't be today… and maybe it will. But one of these days… maybe not even for like a hundred years… but one of these days we're gonna die… and we just don't know what we're gonna do before then."

All Amelia could do was blink in response. Had Chuck lost his marbles? "You're scaring me. Shut up before I kick you… _really hard._"

Chuck's laughs did nothing to calm Amelia down. "No no… you don't get it… God, look at everything that's happened… We could die any minute and we just don't know what to do now… we're so sure that we're gonna keep on going that… that we forget why we're even here."

_Amelia_ certainly was questioning why she was here. Listening to Chuck's ramblings was going to give her an aneurism. "You need a vacation… a _long_ vacation."

"Well that's just it isn't it? Where would I go?"

With a shrug, Amelia noted that one of the workstations in the ZPM room now was giving an active status. "Well… if we get out of this, back home. Earth."

Chuck's smile lost the insanity, but it kept its vigor. "Wrong… _this…" _The Canadian moved his arms around emphasizing Atlantis. "… This is home."

To punctuate his statement, the lights as well as everything else suddenly turned off, but just as rapidly, they went back up… along with the bulkheads.

* * *

"Do you… well I mean… are you…"

Ronon couldn't help but smile at Jennifer's blusteryness. Granted he wasn't expecting her to be napping on his shoulder either after only 2 hours of isolation, but maybe Jennifer's attempt to console him meant more than he thought. "Yeah?"

Jennifer felt so silly for thinking this. He was _Specialist Ronon Dex for Pete's sake! _"Well… if you… _need_ someone to talk to…"

It was a pretty forward question. Ronon barely knew Jennifer before today, and already she was trying to help him. It was a hard thing to deny… especially since he had yet to talk to Teyla and see what kind of shape she was in… probably not a good one. "… maybe… maybe."

Before either could do anything more, the lights went out. And moments later, they went up along with the doors.

* * *

"So Rodney is likely still alive… and the Asurans have almost definitely probed his mind."

Lorne nodded, and handed his canteen to Teyla. "That's the gist of the Intel Ronon brought back. We might have to move the city again."

Teyla looked to Lorne with a rueful expression. "I guess you'll be the one to fly the city."

With a nod, Lorne contemplated it. "Always wanted to see what it's like… Colon…" his voice caught, and he looked down for a moment "… _Sheppard_ said it was 'cool'." Now he laughed, and smile was one of nostalgia. "Could never get him to describe it beyond that…"

It was obvious the Major missed the dark haired Colonel. Teyla didn't know what kind of a relationship they had apart from friends, but it was apparent that Evan cherished it. "Many times has John used the same term when speaking with me."

"… I really hope he's still okay… last time the Traveler's took him he wasn't exactly in the best shape… he said that Larrin lady had a great right hook."

Teyla smiled and laughed at the small joke. The mere fact that it was the Travelers that had taken John and not a sworn enemy gave her just a small degree of hope for his safe return.

Even more hope was added when a few seconds later, the doors to the Mess Hall opened and a collective sigh of relief was heard.

* * *

"Guess you would have had to come down here anyway."

Sam snorted softly at Ronon's little joke, with everything in Atlantis relatively back to normal, it was time to recoup from the culmination of the unrequested chaos. "Yeah well… Dr. Keller knows what she's doing. A few minutes under her care won't kill me."

Jennifer made an irritated sound and pressed the bandage on Sam's head just a little harder. Sam winced a little and turned with an accusing face. Jennifer simply smiled and remained innocent. "Whaaat? I have to make sure it holds."

Sam checked her eye roll; she was feeling too good for that sort of thing. Yet again she'd dodged death by the skin of her teeth, and no matter what the situation could have been, the relief of life continued was enough to keep her going. "So Ronon… Major Lorne briefed me quickly on what happened but he didn't give me any details."

Ronon nodded, and then accepted the glass of water Jennifer handed him. "Wraith were stealing ZPMs, I blew em up. McKay…" Ronon stopped for a moment and sighed, the time to move forward was now. "…McKay got captured. They probably probed his mind and got rid of him… just like…"

With another sigh, Sam looked down at the ground. "Just like Dr. Weir…" A moment of silence, remembering the two friends who had fallen to the nanite monsters. "… We're gonna have to move the city. If they probed Rodney, then they know where Atlantis is. It's been almost 3 weeks and they haven't attacked, but maybe it's because they're more concerned with the Wraith for now."

Ronon nodded, and he clenched his fist. "The Wraith are getting their asses kicked. They tried to use those ZPMs to power a cloning factory. The Wraith that captured me got caught by another hive and…" he growled softly. "…we had to work together to get outta there… I blew the ZPMs and he got us both away with a Dart. Don't know how I ended up on Sateda."

They were both silent now, and Sam held the bandage at the back of her head and relished the feeling of narcotic painkillers. It was only for a moment though, as she quickly excused herself from Ronon and called for a command staff meeting.

She smiled and nodded to Teyla who now walked in, obviously pregnant. Teyla looked across the room to where Ronon was, and the Satedan noticed her looking.

Ronon silently got up, and walked over to Teyla. "Miss me?"

Teyla smiled, and simply hugged Ronon.

Outside in the hallway, Sam contemplated her next move. The hard restart that the city had to endure to save them all would complicate and delay any possible launch of the city, but with any luck it would only be a few days before they left this planet.

* * *

"Bring him."

It had been almost a whole day since John had seen another living person, and his parched throat and empty stomach attested to that. The two burly looking Travelers who accompanied Larrin picked him up by his shoulder. John felt severely weak from almost 3 weeks of sedentary life tied to a chair.

Never in his life had he been as glad for bathroom breaks as he usually got some dips into his schedule to keep his upper body in relatively okay shape.

This wasn't a bathroom break though, and they been keeping him awake for almost 2 days now. Larrin looked a little… softer was the word John wanted to use, but being dragged through the Aurora with his feet sliding on the floor, and the harsh lighting above him made him reconsider ever thinking of Larrin as anything other than hard. "Anyone gonna tell me where we're going?"

None of them replied, and instead John figured that finally they were going to decide what to do with him. He only wished it could have come 2 weeks earlier before Larrin decided to use him for a punching bag.

It was a long trip, and finally John was deposited inside a room where a spotlight illuminated the floor where he was standing. He almost started chuckling at the obvious intimidation tactic.

A voice came from the shadows, and John instantly knew he was on trial… of sorts. "Colonel John Sheppard…"

Feeling the need to keep things completely legitimate, John donned his smartass hat. He raised a finger to the accusing voice. "That's _Lieutenant-_ Colonel John Sheppard…"

He could feel the eye roll through the black haze in front of him, and slowly the lights came on. A group of six older Travelers sat around a curved table. Obviously passing judgement on him. "You stand before the Traveler high council. It has been eighteen days since the catastrophe at Asuras where under your command, 429 Travelers lost their lives in a battle lost."

John decided then and there that he hated legislature. "Cut the bullshit. I'm not going to be your scapegoat and I'm not going to sugarcoat the situation. We got our asses handed to us and I'm sorry alright? I'm _fucking sorry._" He took a moment to show that while genuinely being sorry, he wasn't going to back down. "The question you should really be asking is 'how the fuck are we going to survive?' because you know damn well the Wraith and Replicators are gonna come after you… and Atlantis."

Now that the lights were coming up, he could see there were actually a dozen men and women sitting at a table before him, all in surprise at his determination and defiance. One of them, an older man who seemed to be in charge stared him down. "Larrin says you are willing to help us. But what help do you really offer? From what I understand there are very few of your people on Atlantis… barely enough to run it."

John had spent days considering it, and his thoughts always came down to a few key points.

The IOA were never going to allow for an evacuation. He'd heard Woolsey and Carter arguing even before Asuras about sending some people to the Milky Way because Atlantis was taking in so many refugees, and the IOA's idiotic insistence that Earth be left out of Pegasus affairs was insulting.

That left Atlantis and Atlantis alone as his resource. "That's kind of my point. Last time I checked there were only 200 people on Atlantis… and from our schematic reports… we could easily fit another fifty thousand."

Now the other Travelers murmured amongst themselves, and Larrin came in from the side where John couldn't see her. "He's right. The city is huge compared to any other infrastructure we've come across. It could easily hold all of us ten times over."

John looked over to Larrin, she seemed… defiant. Maybe he had gotten through to her… and maybe letting her vent on him had been worth it.

* * *

Sam took careful note of the request on her desk. Truth be told she'd been expecting it, but after what had happened it felt like an insult. "Request denied."

Radek stiffened; he certainly didn't like her quick dismissal of his request. "I see… may I ask why?"

Sam kept working on her tablet, Sleep was beckoning her but it would be hours before it was allowed. "I've already signed approvals for four other astrophysicists to go back to Earth and the SGC. I can't lose my entire staff right before we have to move the city _again._ So I'm sorry, but I have to ask you to remain at your post."

Radek was fuming now; this was his _life_ she was denying. "I'm not part of the Military. You have no authority to order me to stay."

He was using it as an excuse, and Sam knew damn well what was bothering him enough to want to leave. It bothered her too, but after seeing what happened in the Transporter, she had an inkling how to fix it. "Doctor Zelenka. I am only going to tell you this _once._ You are the most qualified person to be running scientific operations on this base. I have full trust in your decisions and administrative abilities. You _do not_ have to live up to what Rodney did because _you are not Rodney_. And that's _not_ a bad thing. You are fully capable of making your own decisions regarding this city and I _trust_ you."

Radek remained silent. He'd often thought of Colonel Carter as a more feminine version of the soldiers he'd seen on Atlantis. Perhaps smarter, and definitely more attractive, but now he saw that deep down inside she was a true soldier… and she was encouraging him.

Sam continued. "I am not asking you to try and fill Rodney's shoes… I could never ask _anyone_ to do that. What I _am_ asking is that you take initiative. This is _your _command now, Radek. And if you seriously don't want it then I don't even want you on this base anymore." She stood up and faced Radek with an impassive face. "If you bring me this letter again tomorrow, I'll sign it. You have till then to figure out what you're going to do, Dismissed."

Radek wanted to argue, he wanted to say that he wasn't ready for this level of responsibility, and that to take over for Rodney just hurt too much as he would be reminded 24/7 of what had happened.

But Radek realized that that would happen anyway, and the only way to run away from this pain would be to abandon the whole science field… So he just nodded curtly and left the room.

To the side he saw Major Lorne prepping his new team, the new AR-1… The Major had 2 Marine Captains and a Combat Engineer… obviously he was expecting battle when and if he went through the gate.

The whole city seemed that way… especially with all the refugees who had taken hospice here. They were taking refuge in one of the side towers not too far from the central tower and the stargate, but already he'd heard of incidents requiring the Military Contingent on Atlantis to resort to police tactics.

Radek didn't know how he ended up at this lab, but something…

No he knew what. This was where Rodney spent most of his waking hours. This is where he'd find him wired on 4 cups of coffee screaming at the computer and anyone around… pushing harder and harder to prove himself.

Prove what? That he was more than capable? Radek already knew that. Though he never admitted it, he was envious of how Rodney could go from being completely ignorant of a system, and within days become an expert from his utter dedication from studying it. The man would stay up for 18 hours stuck to a console, learning everything he could about a specific system, only going away when Sheppard or Katie would come and drag him away…

So now that Radek sat in the same seat Rodney called his home away from home, he realized that running away would solve nothing. And worse still, it would dishonor the memory of his now gone friend.

He turned on the monitor, and input Rodney's password… Almost no one knew it, and Radek would never use it against him, but now it seemed prudent to see what the man had been working on before his time had come.

Specifically there were bookmarks in the Ancient Database… mostly energy creation and storage folders… a few on weapons… one in particular about a new mode of propulsion… but for the most part these were unexplored aspects and Radek would need more resources to properly study them.

It was then that Radek Zelenka decided to stay; honoring Rodney by completing the work he'd started seemed the most proper way to tear away his grief.

* * *

"Sam? Oh my god! _Sam!!"_

Rodney ran over to where the Colonel sat with her back to the wall, The white hair and ancient dried out look to the once beautiful woman made Rodney's heart quiver. "_Rod…ney?"_

He quickly knelt next to her and hesitated in touching her. Gone was the strong imposing woman he knew, and only a frail almost lifeless husk remained. "Yes! Oh my god Sam… _oh my god…"_

Sam turned her head slowly towards Rodney and stared at him with glazed over and hazy eyes. "_Where… where were you?"_

Rodney fought the tears, he really did. But now in a position to see into the mess hall, he saw bodies lying around… husks of the strong men and women who served in Atlantis… tossed carelessly aside after having been fed on. "I… I…"

Sam suddenly reached out and grabbed Rodney's collar. She was surprisingly strong despite the grave injury. "_You… you've gotta… warn…"_

Before she could finish, Sam's throat caught and her pupils receded. Uttering an anguished death rattle, her hand finally let go of Rodney's collar and fell to the floor limply. Never to move again under its own power.

Rodney cried. His tears burned his cheeks like never before. Seeing people he lived, worked, and fought alongside… all people he secretly or not so secretly liked and even loved... all dead or on the verge of death… What had happened?

To the side, a sudden bang and explosion warned him of trouble. He quickly checked his body and found an M9 Berretta handgun. Fumbling it around, Rodney held it shakily in the direction of the noise.

The door blew open, and a Wraith Drone lumbered forward. Its stunner rifle was nowhere to be seen, but at the distance it was at it didn't matter. It charged forward towards Rodney with a mighty roar.

Rodney for that matter fell back, scrambling to get to his feet. He pulled the trigger madly and managed to put a few bullets into the Drone, but it fazed off the bullets as if they were just insect bites.

Just as the Drone came right above Rodney about 10 feet of scampering back, a burst of SMG fire tore across the side of the Drone and staggered it. Rodney emptied the clip of the pistol and looked over to where the SMG fire had come from. "_Sheppard!? Wha…!?"_

The wounded Colonel charged forward with a fierce snarl and threw himself at the Drone. In a flying tackle, he knocked the Wraith to the ground. Rodney instantly felt the need to help him and quickly tried to reload the pistol. Feeling around his body, he found one clip attached to his belt. Fumbling around, Rodney reloaded.

Colonel Sheppard jumped up from his position with a pained groan and struck the Drone with the butt of his P90 again, keeping the creature down and at bay. Rodney finally reloaded the handgun and waiting for a good shot, again emptied the clip in retribution for the lives lost already.

Sheppard groaned loudly as he rolled on the floor, his breathing was erratic and his voice was shaky. "_Rodney… _where the_ hell _have you_ been!?"_

Rodney finally got a good look at Sheppard as the Colonel put a final burst into the gibbering mess of the Wraith Drone… just like Sam, he'd been fed on. His hair was a mix of white and black, his skin wrinkled and his eyes bloodshot. "Sheppard! What the hell's going on!? Where'd the Wraith come from!?"

Moving forward, Sheppard limped to where Rodney was and helped him up… barely. "Goddamn bastards jumped in a cruiser under the shields… kamikaze… dumped all their darts before we could take em out…"

"What!? That shouldn't be possible! The shields are…"

Sheppard shook his head and shook Rodney to get his attention. "Forget that… it's too late… the city's swarming with em… we're outgunned and _urrgghhh_…"

With a loud groan and minor convulsion, the Colonel heaved over, barely held up by his stocky best friend. "Sheppard! Oh my god… what happened to you?"

Sheppard's throat seized up and let go repeatedly, obviously he was in a tremendous amount of pain. "One of the bastards…_ughhh_.., stunned Teyla… went to help her… _mrrm… _got caught… Ronon got him off me but he got stunned too…" for a moment, the Colonel covered his mouth as if he was gonna lose his stomach. Quickly recovering, he shakily pinned Rodney to the wall in a violent move. "They're gone McKay… last of us… heading to the gate… I… _ugh…_I need you to… go… get our people through… Don't let them… Earth! _No Wraith on Earth_! Go back and… _arrrrrgghhhh!!_"

Sheppard let out a huge groan as he held his chest and keeled over onto his knees. Rodney could barely hold the man's weight up and held him as anguished cries of pain came from his lungs. "We need to get to the gate… come on Sheppard! We nee…"

With a quick shake of his head, Sheppard pushed Rodney away and forced himself to get back up under his own power. "_No!_ Goddamnit Rodney. I'm dead already! I made Keller give me an overdose… _hrrmm… _Stims and painkillers… I got maybe an hour fore I burn through my guts…no chance…" with a distasteful laugh, Sheppard looked back at the dead lying on the floor and lingered his gaze on Sam's lifeless husk. "… She tried to stop em… got swarmed… _Goddamnit_…" he turned back to Rodney and the tears in his eyes said more than words ever could. "… _Go_… I'll hold em off ya…" a few deep breaths and the Colonel pushed away, reloading his P-90.

Rodney had to make it to the Control Room… he had to make sure no one else died needlessly.

* * *

Talia watched with interest. Oberoth was trying a new tactic and for some reason, it seemed to be working. "I do not understand. Why do you impede him from giving us the address?"

Oberoth kept his hand in Rodney's head and continued the simulation; the Wraith Commander that was waiting for Rodney just past the next corner was a new addition to the program, as would be the Asuran interpretation of the Wraith Feeding Process. "Every attempt has been blocked by his ability to detect our presence. But, I have noticed that when he finds himself at major risk… it changes his brain chemistry."

With a mimic of the human frowning expression, Talia also rubbed her chin. "Brain Chemistry? So his body reacts to the stress by weakening his resolve?"

At that moment, in Rodney's mind, the Wraith Commander had swiped the legs out from under him. Despite the scientist's screams of terror, the Wraith let the salivation from his lips fall on his face as he shoved the feeding hand onto Rodney's chest. In the real world however, Rodney's kneeling body simply convulsed and a tormented gasp left his lips involuntarily.

Oberoth would have felt the urge to smile… but satisfaction was a human emotion… and all Oberoth felt was wrath.

* * *

**Continued in Episode 4 - Discord. **

**Follow Author link or C2 Archive.**

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